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Spelman Spotlight
CAMPUS NEWS
Page 3
Mentorship program strengthens corporate awareness
By Delitha Morrow
The Spelman College Mentorship Pro
gram (SCMP) was established in 1988 to
strengthen students’ leadership and manage
ment skills and provide business opportuni
ties for them.
The program is funded by The Friends of
Spelman, a group of Atlanta women commit
ted to providing financial support for the
College. They raised $97,000 during the 1987-
88 school year to establish the (SCMP).
Unlike last year, when students worked
with their mentors for only one semester, this
year's participants students are involved for
the full school year.
“In selecting the leadership for the pro
gram,” says Assistant Dean of Students and
SCMP Director, Tamara Nash Ammons, “we
invited executives from the very top of the
corporate structure.”
The greatest strength of the program is
also a source of concern.
“These Presidents and Chief Executive
Officers are very busy, and they don’t always
have a lot of time to spend with the students.
But we've asked them to spend a minimum of
a couple of hours twice a month,” says Ms.
Ammons.
Corporate leaders participating in the
program this year are Jesse Hill, President,
Atlanta Life Insurance Company; Charles
Ginden, Executive Vice President, Trust
Company Bank; Herman Russell, Chairman
and CEO, H.J. Russell and Company; Frank
Skinner, President and CEO, Southern Bell;
Jay Smith, Publisher, The Atlanta-Journal
Constitution-, Raymond Riddle, Chairman and
CEO, First Atlanta Bank; and William Van
Landingham, President, Citizens and South
ern Bank.
Student participation is limited to juniors
and seniors, and the selection process is
competitive.
Students must complete an application
and be interviewed by a selection committee
composed of faculty, staff, and one student.
As a new program, it is small and only a
few students will be able to participate each
year at first.
The purpose of the meetings is to allow
students to have the opportunity to observe
the activities and responsibilities of the men
tors.
Supporters of the program also hope stu
dents can sharpen their leadership skills and
increase their chances of gaining full-time
employment and internship opportunities.
Jocelyn Coleman, a junior English major
from Washington, D.C. and editor of the
Spotlight, is working with the Atlanta Jour
nal-Constitution.
Ms. Coleman learned about the program
last year and felt it was a great opportunity to
make contacts in the journalism field.
(continued on page 11)
Back Row (L-R): Veronica Biggins, Bill Pippen, Alexis Scott-Reeves. Jocelyn R. Coleman. Johnnetta Cole, Herman Russell, Denny Betz and
John Frink. Front Row (L-R): Lisa Shepard, Doris Grady, Andrea Ivory, Keisha McClellan, Leslie Collins, Gretchen Cook, Joia Johnson.
Kimberly Woods, Tamara Nash Ammons and Jesse Hill.
Where the action is
By Michelle Warner
The Spelman Women’s Action Coalition
(SWAC) serves as a liaison between the stu
dent body and the administration where Spel-
manites can voice their complaints and con
cerns about campus life.
Felicia Lasley and Adrienne Goolsby are
the Co-Advisory Chairs of S.W.A.C. They
are both juniors who have been active mem
bers of Spelman’s student government since
their freshman years. Ms. Goolsby chose to
lead S.W.A.C. because she wanted to work
for the improvement of campus life for all
Spelman students. Ms. Lasley says she loves
Spelman and enjoys actively working with
her sisters for change.
Under Ms. Lasley and Ms. Goolsby’s
guidance, S.W.A.C. has made enormous im
provements on campus by making recom
mendations to Dean Freddye Hill during
weekly meetings and negotiating with appro
priate administrators.
These milestones include: extending the
parking lot size, extended breakfast hours on
the weekends, removing music that had nega
tive connotations from the jukebox and hav
ing keys for the main dormitory doors made
available to Spelman residents. Other im
provements S.W.A.C. is currently working
on include providing positive news on class
room bulletins boards instead of credit card
appl ications and insuring that combined exam
times are also printed on the exam schedule so
that students can proceed with travel arrange
ments.
The members of S.W.A.C. are not to be
overlooked. They form various committees
that keep a vigilant watch over what’s going
on at Spelman. The committees include:
Registration, Residential Life, Food Service.
Infirmary. AUC Unity, Scholarship/Hand
book, Security, and a special committee to
lobby for an African American/Women Stud
ies major or minor at Spelman.
Any interested, hard-working sisters can
get involved with S.W.A.C. Meetings are
held the first and third Thursdays of every
month on the lower concourse of Manley. In
addition, there will be an upcoming convoca
tion, sponsored by S.W.A.C. on racism.
Class presidents to lead students to success
Class Presidents (L-R): Cindy Brooks C’90, Shawna Green C’91, Cecilia Armstrong
C’92 and Gretchen Civens C’93. Photo: Kelly Wilson
By Jean Smith
Who is your class president? Do you
know? This article is for those of you who
may not have taken notice hard-working class
presidents. These four women certainly de
serve commendation for the fantastic jobs
they’ve been doing.
Gretchen Givens is the freshman class
president. Currently, Ms. Givens is unde
cided in her choice of a major, but she is
considering English. She is a native of
Richmond, Virginia and says she loves Spel
man. Her hobbies include softball, basketball
and jazz. Ms. Givens is working fiercely for
her freshmen class and has various activities
planned.
Cecilia Armstrong is the president of the
sophomore class. In addition she is a resident
assistant of Abby Hall and a tutor for Continu
ing Education. Ms. Armstrong, a native of
Detroit, Michigan and a math major, also
enjoys drama. She has mad,e various im
provements for the Sophomore Class. The
birthday board announcing the birthdate’s of
class members is one of the various programs
she has initiated.
Shawna Green, a New Yorker, leads the
Junior Class. She’s is an English major who
plans to attend Law School. At present,
Shawna is the treasurer of the New York/New
Jersey club. She also works closely with Dean
Hill in attempts to audit transcripts. Auditing
the transcripts involves displaying on stu
dent’s transcripts the classes that the need to
take for graduation.
Cindy Brooks is currently heading the
senior class, A Psychology/Mass Communi
cation major, Cindy is a native Atlantan.
(continued on page 11)
Dana
Foundation
prepares future
professors
By Jocelyn R. Coleman
Fewer than 5% of America's college
teachers are African-American and African-
Americans make up only 2.3% of the faculty
members at predominately white institutions.
Fortunately, The Dana Foundation Pro
gram on Preparing Minorities for Academic-
Careers, a $2.5 million program established
to increase the number of minority under
graduate students preparing for careers as
college professors, is in its first year of exis
tence.
Participating institutions include Spel
man College, Hampton University, More
house College, Tuskegee University, Xavier
University and Duke University.
Spelman students selected spend two
years as Dana scholars, working closely with
a faculty member who supervises both re
search projects and college-level teaching
experiences for each scholar.
Founded by the Charles A. Dana Foun
dation, devoted to supporting projects in health
and higher education, the program affords the
scholars the opportunity to spend the summer
between their junior and senior years at Duke
University in Durham, N.C. attending a six-
week research program.
"This should supplement the primarily
undergraduate environment from which our
Spelman participants will come.” says proj
ect director, Akiba Harper, Assistant Profes
sor of English at Spelman College.
Financial support for her junior and sen
ior years is granted in order to eliminate the
economic barrier that keeps students from
pursuing graduate degrees.
Eight sophomores were selected as Dana
scholars last spring. They have maintained
3.3 GPA or higher and demonstrated a sincere
interest and ability in college-level teaching.
Spelman Dana scholars, their major and
(continued on page 12)